What does dozen mean?

Definitions for dozen
ˈdʌz əndozen

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word dozen.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. twelve, 12, XII, dozenadjective

    the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one

  2. twelve, 12, xii, dozenadjective

    denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units

Wiktionary

  1. dozennoun

    A set of twelve.

  2. dozennoun

    A large, unspecified number of, comfortably estimated in small multiples of twelve, thus generally implied to be significantly more than ten or twelve, but less than perhaps one or two hundred; many.

  3. dozennoun

    An old English measure of ore containing 12 hundredweight.

  4. Etymology: From douzaine, from duodecim, from duo + decem

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Dozennoun

    The number of twelve.

    Etymology: douzaine, French.

    We cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen, but it will be thought we keep a bawdyhouse straight. William Shakespeare, Henry V.

    That they bear such huge leaves, or delicate fruit, I could never find; yet I have travelled a dozen miles together under them. Walter Raleigh, History of the World.

    By putting twelve units together, we have the complex idea of a dozen. John Locke.

    The number of dissenters was something under a dozen with them. Jonathan Swift, concerning the Sacramental Test.

Wikipedia

  1. Dozen

    A dozen (commonly abbreviated doz or dz) is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive integer groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the Moon, or months, in a cycle of the Sun, or year. Twelve is convenient because it has a maximal number of divisors among the numbers up to its double, a property only true of 1, 2, 6, 12, 60, 360, and 2520.The use of twelve as a base number, known as the duodecimal system (also as dozenal), originated in Mesopotamia (see also sexagesimal). Counting in base-12 can easily be accomplished on one's hands by counting each finger bone with one's thumb. Using this method, one hand can count to twelve, and two hands (with the second hand as a placeholder for representing units of twelve) can count to 144. Twelve dozen (122 = 144) are known as a gross; and twelve gross (123 = 1,728, the duodecimal 1,000) are called a great gross, a term most often used when shipping or buying items in bulk. A great hundred, also known as a small gross, is 120 or ten dozen. Dozen may also be used to express a large quantity as in "several dozen" (e.g., dozens of people came to the party).Varying by country, some products are packaged or sold by the dozen, often foodstuff (a dozen eggs). According to one source, sales by the dozen may derive from English units, a system under which “one egg could be sold for a penny or 12 for a shilling, which was equal to 12 pennies.”

ChatGPT

  1. dozen

    A dozen refers to the number twelve, typically used to describe a group or set of twelve items or people.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Dozen

    of Dozen

  2. Dozennoun

    a collection of twelve objects; a tale or set of twelve; with or without of before the substantive which follows

  3. Dozennoun

    an indefinite small number

  4. Etymology: [OE. doseine, dosein, OF. doseine, F. douzaine, fr. douze twelve, fr. L. duodecim; duo two + decem ten. See Two, Ten, and cf. Duodecimal.]

Wikidata

  1. Dozen

    A dozen is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the moon or months in a cycle of the sun or year. Twelve is convenient because its multiples and divisors are convenient: 12 = 2 × 2 × 3, 3 × 4 = 12, 2 × 6 = 12, 60 = 12 × 5, 360 = 12 × 30. The use of twelve as a base number, known as the duodecimal system, probably originated in Mesopotamia. This could come from counting on one's fingers by counting each finger bone with one's thumb. Using this method, one hand can count to twelve, and two hands can count to 144. Twelve dozen are known as a gross; and twelve gross are called a great gross, a term most often used when shipping or buying items in bulk. A great hundred, also known as a small gross, is 120 or ten dozen. A baker's dozen, also known as a long dozen, is thirteen.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Dozen

    duz′n, adj. two and ten, or twelve.—n. a collection of twelve articles.—adj. Doz′enth.—Baker's dozen, Devil's dozen, thirteen. [O. Fr. dozeine—L. duodecimduo, two, and decem, ten.]

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'dozen' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3738

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'dozen' in Written Corpus Frequency: #2355

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'dozen' in Nouns Frequency: #1222

Anagrams for dozen »

  1. zendo

  2. zoned

How to pronounce dozen?

How to say dozen in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of dozen in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of dozen in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of dozen in a Sentence

  1. Colin Barnett:

    It's only now that we see investment in about half a dozen hotels either in construction or going into construction. There was very little space for tourism, particularly middle income, lower cost, family-type accommodation and transport.

  2. Allyson Seel-Sorenson:

    (Rebecca) has called me a dozen times and said, ‘I’m so sorry. Do you still love me? Which I think is just hysterical.

  3. Steve Bell:

    It is unfortunate that of the nearly two dozen candidates running for president today, virtually none of them have placed a focus on this important issue.

  4. Rikki Klieman:

    I passionately wanted to do these stories, and I became even more passionate about telling these stories at a time when the discourse, the debate about policing in America, has taken a sharp turn, police are being defined by a half a dozen incidents instead of being defined by the people that they really are.

  5. Dan Caldwell:

    Very few employees were terminated for the ‘ wait list ’ scandal – less than a dozen that we know of – even though hundreds or even thousands of people were involved.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

dozen#1#6276#10000

Translations for dozen

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for dozen »

Translation

Find a translation for the dozen definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"dozen." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/dozen>.

Discuss these dozen definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for dozen? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Image or illustration of

    dozen

    Credit »

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    an onerous or difficult concern
    A encumbrance
    B tingle
    C sweep
    D contempt

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for dozen: